Bill Clark: Musician Has Passion to Restore Historic Buildings, Antique Cars

Among his work is the restoration of Willard Memorial Chapel, Cayuga Museum of History and Art

By Joe Sarnicola

 

Bill Clark, 65, of Auburn, acknowledges his skill with construction, his love of classic cars and his interest in music comes from his family.

“My father owned a small construction business and my grandmother taught me the basics of playing the piano,” he said.

Clark currently is a self-employed contractor, as his father was, and he plays keyboards in a classic rock band called Dynamix. The name is a play on the word “dynamics,” which means variations in volume in a piece of music.

When he was around 10 years old, in an effort to earn money to buy plastic car models, Clark started helping his father with construction jobs. Being immersed in the trade instilled in him a love of seeing a job completed and he gained valuable experience in the different aspects of owning a small business. He opened his own business in 1983.

Working construction is not without its risks. In 2001, he fell off a ladder at a job site and broke his back. “I was in a hard brace for three months and out of work for eight,” he said.

“My work is mostly residential remodeling, but since I moved to Auburn from Fairmount, I have added a niche of historic preservation,” he added.

Clark has worked at the Willard Memorial Chapel, whose interior was designed and built by Tiffany.

“I replaced and repainted rotten wood and replaced broken panes on 66 non-stained-glass windows there. And I worked inside and out at the Cayuga Museum,” he said.

The Cayuga Museum of History and Art, which opened in 1936, recently completed a thorough renovation. It was at one time the site of the laboratory of Theodore Case, who invented the technology that allowed sound to be added to movies.

Clark’s connection with the history of Auburn does not end with his work on two historic buildings in the city. The home he purchased in 1992 was once the home of Thomas Mott Osborne, who was a mayor of Auburn, a prison reformer, and a member of one of Auburn’s prominent families in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The home was built in 1885 by Julius Schweinfurth, for which the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center is named.

In the front room of the home, Clark built a bar to conform to the shape of the baby grand piano in the room. He said the curved walls add to the acoustics of the room, giving the piano a rich tone. An adjoining room serves as a rehearsal studio for his band. Although he sings and plays keyboards in his band, he started out on a different instrument.

“I played trumpet from the time I started taking lessons in school in fifth grade. Fairmount had a great music program. After high school, I led a brass quintet for a few years. That ran its course, so now I play classic rock, music from the ‘70s and ‘80s, mostly,” he said.

The other members of Dynamix are Dave Rose, guitar, Aidan Dougherty on bass and SAMMY-nominated drummer Vinnie Nalli. More information about the band can be found on Facebook by searching for DynamixTheBand.

Restoring historic buildings is not Clark’s only connection to the past. He has restored a number of classic cars as well. His most recent project was a 1973 Gran Torino that he bought from an owner in San Jose, California. He found it at an online auction. Because it was so similar to one he owned when he was in high school, he knew he had to own it. He had planned to restore it to look like his former car, but it was in such original condition, he left it alone. “It’s only original once,” he said.

He also owns a 1930 Model A Coupe that he bought when he was 17 and a 1932 Ford 5-window coupe, like the one in the movie, “American Graffiti.” He is currently building “a 1929 Roadster with a flat head motor into a bare bones hot rod.”

He also had a project that became a tribute to his father. “I bought a 1961 F350 stake rack truck as a surprise for my dad. This is a clone of the truck he used for his business. I did a complete restoration and I surprised him with it on Father’s Day. We took that truck to a couple car shows and we even won a couple of awards,” he said.

Only a couple of years later, William Clark Sr. died.

As if Clark were not busy enough with so many projects, he also finds time to occasionally help his partner, Sandy Shutter, who owns “Artistic Impressions,” an art boutique housed in Willard Memorial Chapel.